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On May 10, 1861, Union troops surrounded Camp Jackson, a military encampment where Confederate leaders were accused of conspiring to seize the St. Louis Arsenal, the largest store of munitions west of the Mississippi. The state militia, which numbered more than 600 men, answered the call of Missouris pro-Southern governor Claiborne Fox Jackson to assemble but found themselves outnumbered 10 to 1 and were forced to surrender. As federal forces marched them through St. Louis, an angry crowd gathered. Gunfire crackled, leaving more than 24 people dead. St. Louis epitomized the growing tensions between the North and South. The citys strategic position enabled James Eadss shipyards to build ironclads, Jefferson Barracks to muster troops, and Gratiot Street Prison to hold POWs. The list of notables with ties to St. Louis reads like a whos who of the Civil War: Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Jefferson Davis, William T. Sherman, Nathaniel Lyon, James Longstreet, George Pickett, and others.
Community is an evolving and complex concept that historians have applied to localities, counties, and the South as a whole in order to ground larger issues in the day-to-day lives of all segments of society. These social networks sometimes unite and sometimes divide people, they can mirror or transcend political boundaries, and they may exist solely within the cultures of like-minded people. This volume explores the nature of southern communities during the long nineteenth century. The contributors build on the work of scholars who have allowed us to see community not simply as a place but instead as an idea in a constant state of definition and redefinition. They reaffirm that there never ...